My grandfather had a wife and 9 daughters (my mother is the oldest) and no sons. Now that I have four daughters, I begin to wonder if maybe my grandfather, who died before I was born, died young because of an overdose of female hormones in the house. It is hard for us as men to understand women’s emotions and the hormonal swings of their monthly cycle, but it is important for us to do the best we can. My daughters are still quite young, but there is already more daily drama at our house than in many Hollywood studios. My wife is usually pretty level headed and not overly dramatic, but occasionally she gets caught up like all women in the hormonal hurricane.
As the head of the house it is my responsibility to firmly and lovingly keep these problems from getting out of hand. Peter, who was married and raised faithful children - 1 Peter 5:1, gives us one of the keys to a happy relationship with our wives. He says in 1 Peter 3:7, “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.” The old G. I. Joe cartoon (1985) used to always end with a scene to teach kids to do right and they would always say, “Now you know, and knowing is half the battle”. Knowledge is power the saying goes. It is essential for us as husbands and fathers to have as much knowledge about the women and girls as possible. We can’t treat our wives’ like one of the guys and we can’t treat our daughters like sons.
While we have to be sensitive to the differences between men and women, we can’t allow these differences to be excuses for ugly behavior. I have heard so many times the excuse that PMS made a woman act a certain way that was sinful. It is true that there are challenges for your wife and daughters that you will never fully understand and that you will never face as a man, but the same is true on the other side. As a man there are desires and temptations that your wife will not fully understand. We can’t use gender as an excuse to commit sin, and we can’t excuse sinful behavior in ourselves, our spouse, or our children because of hormones and hormone changes. Jesus went through puberty and still He was without sin, and there is no other hormone effect like puberty.
God created us and He knows our limits. He has not allowed us to be tempted, even by hormones, beyond what we can overcome - 1 Corinthians 10:13. If we coddle our daughters, which is sooo easy for fathers to do, they will become spoiled, selfish, moody princesses who make life miserable for everyone around them. That is not what we want and we have to fight ourselves to keep that from happening. - jp
As the head of the house it is my responsibility to firmly and lovingly keep these problems from getting out of hand. Peter, who was married and raised faithful children - 1 Peter 5:1, gives us one of the keys to a happy relationship with our wives. He says in 1 Peter 3:7, “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.” The old G. I. Joe cartoon (1985) used to always end with a scene to teach kids to do right and they would always say, “Now you know, and knowing is half the battle”. Knowledge is power the saying goes. It is essential for us as husbands and fathers to have as much knowledge about the women and girls as possible. We can’t treat our wives’ like one of the guys and we can’t treat our daughters like sons.
While we have to be sensitive to the differences between men and women, we can’t allow these differences to be excuses for ugly behavior. I have heard so many times the excuse that PMS made a woman act a certain way that was sinful. It is true that there are challenges for your wife and daughters that you will never fully understand and that you will never face as a man, but the same is true on the other side. As a man there are desires and temptations that your wife will not fully understand. We can’t use gender as an excuse to commit sin, and we can’t excuse sinful behavior in ourselves, our spouse, or our children because of hormones and hormone changes. Jesus went through puberty and still He was without sin, and there is no other hormone effect like puberty.
God created us and He knows our limits. He has not allowed us to be tempted, even by hormones, beyond what we can overcome - 1 Corinthians 10:13. If we coddle our daughters, which is sooo easy for fathers to do, they will become spoiled, selfish, moody princesses who make life miserable for everyone around them. That is not what we want and we have to fight ourselves to keep that from happening. - jp
